Health Law

Published on: February 16, 2016

OCR Releases New HIPAA Guidance for Health App Developers

On February 11, 2016, the Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”), released important guidance on its Developer Portal to address the application of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) regulations to developers of mobile health apps. Whether a mobile app developer is directly employed by a covered entity (i.e., health plans, health care clearing houses, and most health care providers) or a business associate of a covered entity (or one of the covered entity’s contractors), reasonable safeguards must be applied when the developer creates, receives, maintains or transmits protected health information (“PHI”) on behalf of a covered entity or other business associate.

The OCR guidance provides “Key Questions” for app developers in determining whether or not they may be a business associate of a covered entity. In addition, the OCR guidance provides several factual scenarios to further assist app developers in determining whether they are considered a business associate. Below are two of the scenarios included in the OCR guidance, one in which the developer would not be considered a business associate and one where the developer would be considered a business associate.

Scenario: Consumer downloads a health app to her smartphone. She populates it with her own information. For example, the consumer inputs blood glucose levels and blood pressure readings she obtained herself using home health equipment.

Published on: September 25, 2015

Florida Hospital District Settles False Claims Act Allegations for $69.5 Million

by Wachler & Associates, P.C.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced a $69.5 million settlement with the North Broward Hospital District (the “District”) arising out of allegations that the District violated the federal Stark law and False Claims Act by entering into improper financial relationships with employed physicians.

The lawsuit alleged that the District provided compensation to nine employed physicians that exceeded fair market value for the physicians’ services, and instead rewarded the physicians for their referrals of patients to the District. The compensation arrangements were alleged to violate the federal Stark law, which prohibits physician referrals of Medicare and Medicaid services to entities with which the physician has a financial relationship, unless an exception applies. Stark exceptions related to physician compensation and employment arrangements require, in addition to other requirements, that the physician’s compensation is consistent with fair market value and not determined in a manner that takes into account the volume or value of the physician’s referrals. By submitting claims pursuant to referrals that violated the Stark law, the District also submitted claims in violation of the False Claims Act.

The lawsuit against the District was originally filed by a whistleblower pursuant to the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, which allow private individuals to sue on behalf of the government and share in the recovery. The whistleblower in this case brought the lawsuit after the District offered to employ him under terms that he believed may violate the Stark law. The DOJ announced that the whistleblower will receive over $12 million for his role in the case. The DOJ also announced that the recovery marks another achievement for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative, which is a partnership between the U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Resources that has been instrumental in the government’s recovery of $16 billion from fraud in the federal health care programs since 2009.

Published on: September 18, 2015

CMS Releases 2014 ACO Performance Results

by Wachler & Associates, P.C.

Recently, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its 2014 quality and financial performance results for Medicare Accountable Care Organizations (ACO). According to CMS, overall, 353 ACOs – 20 Pioneer ACOs and 333 Medicare Shared Savings ACOs – generated a net savings of more than $411 million in 2014. In addition, 97 ACOs met their quality standards and savings threshold, qualifying them for shared savings payments of more than $422 million. According to CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt, “These results show that ac countable care organizations as a group are on the path towards transforming how care is provided. . . . Many of these ACOs are demonstrating that they can deliver a higher level of coordinated care that leads to healthier people and smarter spending.” According to CMS, some of the quality and financial performance results included:

Of the 20 Pioneer ACOs participating in 2014, 15 ACOs generated savings and 5 ACOs generated losses. Of the 15 ACOs that generated savings, 11 ACOs qualified for shared payments of $82 million due to them generating savings outside a minimum savings rate. Of the 5 ACOs that generated losses, 3 ACOs are paying $9 million in shared losses to CMS for generating losses outside a minimum loss rate.
Pioneer ACOs generated a total savings of $120 million, which equates to a 24% increase in performance from the $96 million of total savings in 2013. Further, the total model savings per ACO increased from $4.2 million per ACO in 2013 to $6 million per ACO in 2014.

Published on: July 16, 2015

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Upholds $237 Million Judgment Against Toumey Healthcare System

by Wachler & Associates, P.C.

On July 2, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld a $237 million verdict against Toumey Healthcare System (“Toumey) for violations of the federal Stark law (“Stark”) and, consequently, the federal False Claims Act. The verdict marks the latest decision in the government’s longstanding legal battle against Toumey, a community hospital in South Carolina, and serves as a reminder to healthcare providers of the significant liability that can result from compensation arrangements that fail to comply with Stark’s safe harbor requirements.

In this case, the lower court determined that Toumey entered into part-time employment agreements with physicians that violated Stark. The agreements violated Stark’s limitations on physician compensation arrangements by varying with, or taking into account, the volume or value of the physicians’ referrals to the hospital. Under the False Claims Act, claims submitted for payment arising out of referrals prohibited by Stark constitute false claims, and subject providers to treble damages. In this case, the jury found that Toumey knowingly submitted 21,730 false claims, which amounted to $39.3 million in Medicare payments. The court awarded treble damages as well as other penalties.

The Fourth Circuit’s decision analyzed Toumey’s argument that since Toumey relied upon the advice of lawyers in determining that the compensation arrangements were permissible under Stark, Toumey could not have knowingly violated the False Claims Act. In rejecting this argument, the Fourth Circuit highlighted the fact that Toumey consulted with multiple attorneys, one of which raised serious concerns about the compensation arrangements, and that Toumey effectively lawyer-shopped for legal opinions that approved the employment contracts. Accordingly, the case should provide notice to providers to proceed with caution if they are contemplating obtaining multiple legal opinions in order to determine that an arrangement is compliant with health care fraud and abuse laws because of how the opinions may be scrutinized in hindsight.

Published on: July 9, 2015

Proposed Rule Shifts Medicaid Managed Care Enrollment Function to States

by Wachler & Associates, P.C.

On June 1, 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a proposed rule revising the Medicaid managed care regulations. One of the key components of the proposed rule is the revision to the states’ responsibilities relating to the screening and enrollment of network providers of managed care organizations (MCOs), prepaid inpatient health plans (PIHPs) and prepaid ambulatory health plans (PAHPs).

Specifically, the proposed rule provides that the state must enroll all network providers of MCOs, PIHPs and PAHPS (collectively, managed care entities (MCEs)) that are not already enrolled with the state to provide services to Medicaid fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiaries. The provisions would apply to all providers that order, refer or render health services in the context of Medicaid managed care to ensure these providers are appropriately screened and enrolled. As stated by CMS, the requirements contained in the proposed rule are to “ensure that there are no ‘safe havens’ for providers who, though unable to enroll in Medicaid FFS programs, shift participation from managed care plan to manage care plan to avoid detection.”

While the screening and enrollment of network providers is currently a role performed by the MCE, CMS believes transferring this function to the state will eliminate the need for each MCE to perform duplicative screening activities. However, the proposed rule would not prevent the MCEs from carrying out their own provider screening beyond those performed by the state. In addition, the proposed system would enable states to apply the risk classification protocols to all providers that furnish services to managed care or Medicaid FFS beneficiaries, in which screened providers would be categorized as “limited,” “moderate” or “high” risk, permitting site visits for moderate and high risk providers.

Published on: May 19, 2015

Senate Finance Committee Examines Medicare Appeals Backlog

by Wachler & Associates, P.C.

On April 28, 2015, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee held a hearing to address the rising Medicare appeals claims backlog. At the hearing, Nancy Griswold, Chief Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) at the Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals (OMHA), blamed the backlog on a lack of funding and an unprecedented amount of appeals. ALJ Griswold stated that the average processing time for each claim has soared to 550 days, more than quadrupling over the past five years. There are currently over 500,000 Medicare appeals pending review.

While appeals continue to stack up, OMHA’s budget was increased from $69 million to $82.3 million over the past fiscal year (FY). Additionally, OMHA’s staff has expanded from 492 employees to 514 employees for the same FY. However, ALJ Griswold claimed that this boost in resources is still not enough. In FY 2013, OMHA received 700,000 claims, which represents an astonishing increase from the 60,000 claims received just two years prior. Despite the staggering amount of claims, only 60 officers are assigned to handle cases.

Although Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch acknowledged the importance of preventing improper Medicare payments, he emphasized the seriousness of the backlog is due to the “insurmountable increase in appeals.” Senator Hatch also noted that 60 percent of appeals are found in favor of defendants, and questioned how initial decisions are being made and whether providers are facing undue burdens.

Published on: April 28, 2015

Proposed Stage 3 Meaningful Use Rules

by Wachler & Associates, P.C.

On Friday March 20, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS“) announced the release of the new Stage 3 meaningful use proposed rules. Concurrently, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (“ONC”) released its new EHR certification requirements, which are linked to its previously released interoperability roadmap. CMS says that the new rules “will give providers additional flexibility, make the program simpler, and drive interoperability among electronic health records, and increase the focus on patient outcomes to improve care.”

With the announcement of the new rules came the release of the two proposals: one outlining the Stage 3 meaningful use requirements for hospitals and providers and one outlining the new EHR certification requirements. The proposed Stage 3 meaningful use rule is intended to specify the meaningful use criteria that eligible professionals, eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals must meet in order to qualify for Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive payments and avoid downward adjustments under Medicare for Stage 3 of the EHR incentive program. According to the summary of the proposed rule, it would continue to encourage submission of clinical quality measure (“CQM”) data for all providers where feasible in 2017, propose to require the electronic submission of CQMs where feasible in 2018, and establish requirements to transition the program to a single stage for meaningful use. Also, the Stage 3 proposed rule, according to CMS, would change the EHR reporting period so that all providers would report under a full calendar year timeline with a limited exception under the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program for providers demonstrating meaningful use for the first time.

In the proposed rule regarding EHR certification requirements, CMS introduces a new edition of certification criteria, proposes a new 2015 Edition Base EHR definition, and proposes to modify the ONC Health IT Certification Program “to make it open and accessible to more types of health IT and health IT that supports various care and practice settings.” It would also establish the capabilities and specify the related standards and implementation specifications that Certified EHR Technology (“CEHRT”) would need to include to, at a minimum, support the achievement of meaningful use by eligible professionals, eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals under the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs when such edition is required for use under these programs.

Published on: April 17, 2015

FDA Gives Finalized Guidance on Medical Device Data Systems, Mobile Apps, and Medical Image Storage and Communications Devices

by Wachler & Associates, P.C.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued non-binding guidance on February 9, 2015 finalizing its position on regulatory compliance of medical device data systems (MDDS), medical image storage and communications devices and mobile medical applications. In its recently issued guidance, the FDA explained that it will not enforce compliance with the regulatory controls that apply to MDDS, medical image storage devices and medical image communications devices because the devices pose a low risk to the patients and play an important role in the advancement of digital health care. Under FDA regulations, MDDS is defined as hardware or software that electronically transfers or stores medical device data, electronically converts medical device data from one format to another, or electronically displays medical device data. A medical image storage device stores and retrieves medical images and a medical image communication device electronically transfers medical image data between medical devices.

As a result of the FDA’s position, manufacturers of MDDS or medical storage and communication devices will not have to register with the FDA, submit to pre-market review or post-market reporting, and can avoid quality system regulation, thereby saving manufacturers time and money. The FDA further stated that it will not enforce compliance with pre-market notification for MDDS, or medical image storage and communication devices that would have otherwise required such notification under the regulations.

Additionally, on February 9, 2015 the FDA issued non-binding guidance specific to mobile apps. The issued guidance contains three appendices that explain and provide examples of apps that are within FDA enforcement, outside of FDA enforcement, and those over which the FDA abstains from enforcing the regulations. The first appendix gives examples of apps that are not “devices” under FDA regulations; the second appendix gives examples of apps that may meet the definition of “device,” but but regulations will not be enforced as the apps are considered low risk to patients and users; and the third appendix gives examples of what the FDA considers “mobile medical apps” over which the FDA does intend to enforce its regulations. The FDA defined “mobile medical apps” as apps that meet the definition of a “device” and are intended to be used as an accessory to a regulated device or are intended to transform a mobile platform into a device. In its guidance on mobile apps, the FDA stated many mobile devices do not fall under its definition of a “device” in 21 USC § 321(h) and are therefore not regulated by the FDA. The FDA did, however, strongly recommend that manufacturers of mobile apps that may qualify as a “device” follow the FDA’s Quality System regulation in developing and designing apps. Lastly, while the FDA acknowledged that many current mobile apps do not constitute “devices” under FDA regulations, or are simply not regulated by the FDA, current and new mobile medical devices are subject to FDA enforcement.

Published on: April 3, 2015

CMS Offers Clarification to HHA Contradictory Guidance

by Wachler & Associates, P.C.

On March 18, 2015, Wachler & Associates attorneys, Andrew Wachler and Jessica Forster, highlighted contradictory guidance released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) relating to home health agencies (“HHAs”) face-to-face encounter documentation. When the calendar year (“CY”) 2015 Home Health Final Rule (“Final Rule”) went into effect on January 1, 2015, new rules for HHAs face-to-face encounter documentation were implemented. Most prominently, the revised Final Rule eliminated the brief narrative requirement in almost all cases for home health face-to-face encounter documentation. Although the brief narrative requirement was removed, CMS mandated that the certifying physician’s medical record include all required elements for the physician certification. Additionally, CMS stated in the Final Rule that a HHA may communicate with and provide information to the certifying physician about the patient’s homebound status and need for skilled care and the certifying physician could incorporate the information into his or her medical record for the patient.

In two separate CMS conference calls, representatives provided contradictory information with regards to physician documentation responsibilities. The first conference call held by CMS properly reinforced the Final Rule’s statement that HHAs could provide information to the certifying physician that the physician could incorporate into his or her medical record (a) if the physician signed/dated the documentation and (b) if the physician’s own entries corroborated the information from the HHA. The Final Rule and the first conference call both said that this information from the HHA would be considered by medical reviewers to determine if the certification requirements were met. It was only during the second conference call, on March 11, that CMS contradicted prior guidance by stating that the physician’s own documentation must meet the certification requirements and that medical reviewers were advised of this instruction. The CMS representative reiterated that even if a certifying physician signs and dates a HHA’s documentation that does not mean that the documentation becomes part of the physician’s medical record. Wachler & Associates reached out to CMS for clarification.

On March 23, 2015, CMS clarified the contradiction. In its reply, CMS stated that the patient’s medical record must support the certification of eligibility and documentation in the patient’s medical record shall be used as a basis for certification of home health eligibility. Importantly, CMS also noted that reviewers will consider HHA documentation if it is incorporated into the patient’s medical record and signed off by the certifying physician.

Published on: February 17, 2015

CMS Modifies Manual Medical Review Process for Outpatient Therapy Claims Above Cap

by Wachler & Associates, P.C.

The Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 extended the process for exceptions to Medicare’s outpatient therapy caps through March 2015. Exceptions to Medicare’s outpatient therapy caps are allowed for medically necessary and reasonably therapy services. However, claims above $3,700 for physical therapy and speech language pathology services combined, and above $3,700 for occupational therapy services, are subject to manual medical review by recovery audit contractors (RACs). The caps are calculated per beneficiary, per year. While manual medical reviews of outpatient therapy claims above the cap were put on hold last year, existing RACs received approval on January 16, 2015 to resume sending additional documentation requests (ADRs) to Part B providers.

However, CMS recently introduced a new post-payment review system that requires RACs to review outpatient therapy claims using a new manual medical review process. RACs will now be required to review claims using a tiered approach to ADRs. The process allows for 100% review of provider claims above the $3,700 therapy caps (“eligible claims”), but prevents the RACs from requesting large and potentially unmanageable amounts of records at one time.

Beginning in January 2015, the new manual medical review process permits RACs to review 100% of a provider’s eligible claims using a 5-step approach to ADRs. A RAC’s first ADR may only review one claim, but additional ADRs may request records for an increasing percentage of claims. The second ADR may review up to 10% of eligible claims, the third ADR may review up to 25% of eligible claims, and the fourth ADR may review up to 50% of eligible claims. Finally, a RAC’s fifth ADR to a particular provider may review 100% of the provider’s total eligible claims. Please note that the new tiered approach retains the RAC’s cycle of 45 days between ADRs.